Hurricane Matthew is a monster storm. It cut a path of terrible destruction through the Caribbean, particularly Haiti where the death toll has surged. Now it is pummeling Florida, where President Obama declared a state of emergency on Thursday. Despite this, Governor Rick Scott has refused to extend the voter registration deadline, a ploy to ensure that many Black and progressive voters never make it to the polls. But we know that Black voters are the answer-- and the 1.7 million Black Voters in Florida will be essential to keeping Trump out of the White House in November.

This is just one event in Governor Scott's long history of being an aggressive advocate of voter suppression. Under Scott's leadership, Florida currently leads the nation in disenfranchising voters who are formerly incarcerated. On November 8, over 23.3% of voting-age Black residents will not be able to cast a ballot because of Rick Scott's lifelong Florida disenfranchisement law.

Not surprisingly, Rick Scott is the chairman of Donald Trump's Super PAC. Governor Scott is making a mockery of our democracy and is exploiting his very strategic position this election year to pave Trump's path to the White House. Rick Scott knows that a month away from the election is a crucial time for voters to register—in 2012 86,000 people registered in the last 8 days before registration closed. President Obama won the election with only 82,000 votes that year. Now, voters in Florida have only until Tuesday to register.

Right now, too many people in Florida are focused on surviving this devastating storm, not going through the now near impossible process of getting their registrations submitted and updated on time. “There are no excuses, you need to leave,” Gov. Rick Scott said in a press conference Thursday morning. “This storm will kill you.” Later that day, Gov. Scott refused to extend Florida’s voter registration deadline, which is Tuesday, October 11th. “I’m not going to extend it,” Scott declared. “Everybody’s had a lot of time to register. On top of that, we have lots of opportunities to vote, early voting and absentee voting, so I don’t intend to make any changes.”

Scott has banned his government from using the words “climate change,” a political move that will continue to harm Black and poor communities in Florida. During Hurricane Katrina, we witnessed first hand what happens when Black people are left out of the political process. Black people were on their rooftops waving American flags for help and while the whole world was watching- our institutions failed to respond.

With his deliberate inaction, Scott is compounding the disaster for the people of Florida. By extending the voter registration deadline, we will be able to turn out more people in November- keeping Trump out of the White House and stopping Rick Scott in his tracks.

Sincerely,

Arisha Michelle Hatch and the rest of the Color of Change PAC Team

ColorOfChangePAC is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Contributions to ColorOfChange PAC are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.